Cueva Viento

We once again noted two potential cave entrances high on the mountain on the opposite side of the river valley as we drove to the parking spot for Cueva Sorbetos. Alan and I hiked back to the river crossing to Cueva Sorbetos. I swam across and went into the cave to retrieve my anemometer. When I’d crossed back over we headed upstream because someone had told Alan there were 2 Cueva Sorbetos. We found a small shelter but no caves. Upstream, looked much more suitable for tubing. You just have to take out before the rapids near the cave. I hiked back to the car and Alan eventually joined me. He’d taken another side trail on the way out looking for another cave. We then took 10 to 146 to 140 into Florida and got onto ###. We drove to the end of the road and asked permission to continue down the road past a gate. From here we followed an old public road which had now been constricted to 1 lane by vegetation. It was weird to be driving down a 1 lane paved road through the jungle seeing caution signs alerting you of curves and slopes. At the end of the road we followed a trail to Cueva Viento.

The entrance to Cueva Viento is about 3’ wide by 7’ high. We walked down a slope into larger walking passage 12’ wide and 15’ high. I hiked ahead on the dry flat mud floor. Soon the floor became quite sloppy with wet mud and the passage narrowed in occasionally. There were a few slick slopes and many formations. We came to a couple larger connected rooms. Ahead, we could hear the loud flutter of bat wings. We ducked into a smaller passage which opened into an 80’ tall, 20’ wide canyon as we ascended the guano slope and circled to the right. The smell of guano was almost overwhelming. The air was thick with it. Above, the canyon continued for more than 100’. The ceiling was alive with motion. High above, thousands of bats were flying around and 1000s more dotted the ceiling. If we were to get histoplasmosis on this trip, this was the place to get it. Alan felt guano raining down from above. I took some pictures and went looking for the others. I then checked out a side passage off of the big room but dismissed it thinking they’d routed back to the entrance. As I neared the entrance I remembered Alan saying something about another passage. I went outside to take care of some business and went back to the passage I’d looked at before. Upon closer examination, the passage continued through a narrow slot. I hiked ahead and was climbing around and up a protrusion when I heard a noise. As I rounded the bend, Marion screamed which slightly startled me. I was now in another room. I went down the passage to the left. Ahead, a 30’ pit ended our exploration. No one had mentioned we needed vertical gear. To the left, I could hear bats. I ducked under and climbed down a slope into a 35’ long, 11’ w x 14’ H room. At the other end many bats were flying about. The sound of their wings echoed loudly like pouring rain. I could actually feel a little wind from their combined flapping wings standing 10 – 15 feet away. I took many pictures and went back to the room where Marion and Alan were waiting. Alan told me to check out the right passage. I stoop walked ahead and came to a large 40’ deep pit. I could hear bats flapping somewhere nearby. I went back to the room and we routed. Alan and I went to check out a hole I”d saw and he showed me a small shelter. Then, we hiked back down the trail. I spotted them first. There were hundreds of tiny black dots sporadically dotting below the forest canopy above us. The bats we’d seen in the cave were tiny and so were these, there were even smaller than the brown pipistrel bats I’m used to seeing in Indiana. We could see a line of hundreds of bats flying through the trees high above to the right. We knew they must be coming from a nearby entrance and followed the trail glancing over to see if we still saw the bats in flight through the trees. We reached a side trail that ascended 300’ up a slick, muddy Magote to a pit entrance 50’ L x 12’ W. It was about 35’ deep. A few bats still flew out. Alan ascended the hill to get a GPS lock and called down that he’d found another cave. I climbed up and checked out the first cave. It’s entrance was about 25’ H x 10’ W. I descended down a slope into the cave. In about 10’ it split. The passage continued about 13’ to the left ending in an upslope choke. To the right, a standing room went back about 50’. When I came back out I noticed bats. Bats were coming out of the pit entrance down the hill. I went back down and took pictures while Alan climbed higher up the hill to check out another entrance. Hundreds of bats flew out of the pit as I took pictures for several minutes. I had heard Alan call so I eventually went up to the other entrance. I was also a pit. He said bats had also flewn out if for awhile too. I’d never seen more bats than I also saw my best bat flight today. Alan and I climbed back down the hill and slopped back down the trail to the car. It briefly showered as we returned which is normal here.